The present invention pertains to new compounds containing a plurality of vinylbenzyl groups and a method for their preparation.
Monomers having a plurality of vinylbenzyl ether groups have been prepared by Steiner in U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,936 and Orlando et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,711 by a process which comprises reacting a material having a plurality of aromatic hydroxyl groups with a vinylbenzyl halide in the presence of an alkali metal hydroxide and a solvent such as an alcohol. The monomers and oligomers prepared by this process have only a portion of the aromatic hydroxyl groups present converted to vinylbenzyl ether groups. It has been discovered that when the solvent employed is a polar aprotic solvent that more than 95% of the aromatic hydroxyl groups present converted to vinylbenzyl ether groups which results in an improvement in one or more of the properties selected from dielectric constant (before and/or after moisture absorption) or thermal stability. Also, the monomers and oligomers prepared by the process of the present invention do not need further purification such as by recrystallization as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,936.